Car-seal.



F. W. BROOKS.

GAR SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 18, 1909.

931,379. Patented Augr17, 1909.

3:10am lot FRANKLIN W. BROOKS, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

GAR-SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 17, 1909.

Application filed May 18, 1909. Serial No. 496,848.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN W. BRooKs, a citizen of the United States, residing at WVashington, in the District of Columbia,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Seals; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in seals for car doors and particularly to that type known as keystone seals, consisting of a shackle composed of comparatively strong wire having springy characteristics, the main body or exposed portion of which is designed to interlock'with the fastening devices of the car door, of circular form, terminating in two straight or vertical members, adapted to pass within receiving passages in the soft metal member of the seal and to be securely held by the compression of the soft metal member. Seals of this type have had'the extreme ends of the vertical members of the shackle bent outwardly to enter or pass through lateral passages in the soft metal member, and designed to prevent the fraudulent withdrawal of the shackle from the soft metal member. While such seals have been found more desirable in many instances than seals the shackles of which are composed of attenuated wire, a concomitant disadvantage exists in the circumstance that the wire shackle being of strong and springy material resists the effort to remove it when necessary, and consequently the fastening devices of the car are subjected to not only damaging strain, but are frequently loosened and broken. other defect in this type of seals resides in the fact that the vertical or straight terminals of the shackle both extending from the circular body portion, renders it impossible for either of said terminals when of a length having in view the proper economy of wire, to pass through the shackle passages in many of the fastening devices on cars, owing to the fact that before the vertical leg or member of the shackle can pass through the fastening devices sufficiently far to be properly connected with the soft metal member of the seal, the circular body of the shackle will contact with the upper surface of, the fasten ing devices. This is particularly the case where it is desired to use the seal in connection with the devices commonly employed for sealing the sliding doors of freight cars closely to make a tight joint with the side of the car, and in which an operating lever is secured over, and in contact with a metal projection extending laterally from the car oor.

My invention has for its object to provide a seal of the keystone type, which is designed to overcome all of the disadvantages existing in such seals, and adapted for use with equal advantages with the varying types of fastening devices, which may be secured in position against fraudulent manipulation, and which may be readily removed when desired.

WVith these ends in view, my invention consists in the details of construction and arrangement hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order that those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains may know how to make and use my improved seal and fully appreciate its advantages, I will proceed to describe the same, referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing in which,:

Figure 1 represents the shackle wire and soft metal member in separated relation; Fig. 2 represents the shackle located within the soft metal member and before compression of the latter; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 (partially broken away) after the soft metal member has been compressed. Fig. 4: is a section, on enlarged scale, on the line a-?; of Fig. 8. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. l, and showing a sheet metal locking band cast within the soft metal member. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the sheet metal band, Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 2 and showing a sheet metal strip cast in the soft metal member and extending therefrom and designed to carry any desired emblem of identification or ownership; and Fig. 8 represents a group of shackles illustrating a variety of ways in which they may be weakened in --'-same, it will be apparent that I not only secure'economy of wire by my improved construction, but that I- am enabled to secure a greater latitude of vertical or reciprocatory '-clea'rly"shown, the longer vertical terminal 3 extending from the circular portion of the body, while the shorter vertical terminal 4 *constitutes a continuation of the straight, or 2 f --be"-readily seen, this straight or back terminal 4- may move in a vertical direction through the fastening devices on a car, until 1 vices, as in the'present form ofshackle.

- this construction I am also enabled to'use my improved seal with the varying styles of "fastening devices, because the straight ter- "within'and through the minimun'i passage *tureof my invention may be fully undertypeofseals as atpresent illustrated in the *art,'tl1e body of the shackle above the com- .form, while in my improved seal it is of D- shape, and that by reason of this difference when the others couldnot.

signof the shackle, I will call attention to the means by which I am enabled to readily order that they may be broken to remove 3 them from the fastening devices of the car when it is desired to open the same.

Similar reference numerals indicate like parts in the several figures of the drawing.

1 is the shackle composed of comparatively strong wire having a springy capacity by g means of which it may be located within a soft metal member 2, in the manner well understood by those familiar with this type of seals. The main or body portion of the shackle,instead of being of circular form and with both legs or terminals of the shackle radial to the circular body, as is universal in this type of seals, is of D-form as -ba'ckportionof the body, and hence, as will the upper curved portion of the body of the shackle contacts with the same, in contrad-istinction to the lower curved portion of the body contacting with the fastening de- As a chord or diameter of a circle is necessarily less than the clrcumference of the movement of the shackle within and through the fastening devices on the car. And with minal-of the shackle being designed to pass in the same, will, of course, pass within and 1 through passages of any other area.

I- desire'at this point to differentiate my improved construction from the present state of the art, by calling attention to the fact that wl at may be designated the short terminal of the shackle extends in astraight linefrom the upper terminus of the curved portion of the body, instead of the lower curved portion as present, and as this feastood, it will be noted that in the form of this pressed so'ft metal member is of circular inshape,-my improved seal may be used Havingnow referred to the shape or de break the shackle when it is desired to un within the soft metal member of the'seal, or

as shown at 7, a portion of the wire may be completely punched or cut out to reduce the cross section of the same, or as shown'at 8,

the wire may be flattenedthroughout and producing diametric fins or stops. I-have shown the several-ways of weakening the wire shackle in order that it maybeunderstood that I do not wish to be limited asto any special means of weakening the shackle at the locality where it is desired that it may be broken.

By reference to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the long leg of the shackleis assembled with the soft metal member by enlarging the lower extremity in any suitable manner, and by referenceto Figs. a and,8,-it will be seen that the legs of the shackle are formed with a series of notches or recesses 9, onthe inner surface, and that when the soft metalmemher is-compressed, whether it be provided with the sheet metal band or not,that' =the soft metal being forced within the notches or recesses referred to, constitutes a series of anchorages of the shackle against with drawal. When the sheet metal band shown at Fig. 6 is cast within the soft metal memher, and the latter is compressed,the-soft metal will be forced through the longitudinal slots 10 in the band and intolthe notches or recesses 9, while the outer extremities of fact that the cross area of the legs of the shackle is not enlarged, and'hence the passages in the soft metal member need not also "be enlarged, and the long leg is free torotate within the soft metal 1 member :into such position as is necessary to pass the same through the fasteningdevices on the ear.

An additional feature ofmy inventionresides in casting within thesoft metal member a short tin strip 1l, upon which may be embossed serial numbers orother characters to denote the shipper of the goods-"within the car,or anyother identification. While this may serve a usefulpurpose asset :forth, it may if desired, be omitted withoutiin any IHQHDOPIIIIGCLIDQ: the other desirable features of myimproved-seal.

WVhat I" claim as new and desire to secure 'by Letters Patent,- is

In a seal such as described, in combination In testimony whereof, I have signed my With a soft metal member, a shackle comname to this specification in the presence of 10 poseddof comparatizlely stllionlg Wire, one of two subscribing Witnesses. its en s extendin om t e ower terminus 5 of a resilient 100%, and the other end ex- FRANKLIN BROOKS tending from the upper extremity of said Witnesses: bow, substantially as and for the purpose D. G. STUART, set forth. JOHN J. HARROWER. 

